Badiliko Digital Hubs

Badiliko (the Kiswahili word for Change) introduces ICT as a new mode of learning. Badiliko Digital Hubs are situated in clusters of schools or at community centers, and they provide infrastructure, curriculum, and training for educators across Sub-Saharan Africa.

"Badiliko" is the Swahili word for change. Badiliko is an innovation that introduces ICT as a new way and mode of learning. It was launched in 2011 through a joint partnership between the British Council and Microsoft. Badiliko builds on each partner organization’s complementary expertise in education, technology, and cultural relations. Microsoft brings its expertise in delivering cutting edge technology and digital training, and the British Council builds on its deep experience working with government ministries, schools, teachers, and students in sub-Saharan Africa.

Badiliko builds digital hubs in schools across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria, and provides a cascade model of professional development for teachers and school leaders. For each digital hub, teachers are trained in leadership and innovative teaching practices, to make the best use of the IT equipment provided for transforming student learning. Those teachers in turn train other teachers, who work together to disseminate their newfound skills through their own schools and communities. The digital hubs in schools are used for teaching and learning during the day, and by the wider community for skills training after-hours. Where schools are off the grid, the digital hubs are supported by solar power and long range Wi-Fi.

The Badiliko digital hubs in Nigeria are situated in clusters of schools or where there are community centers. They provide infrastructure, curriculum, and training for educators across Sub-Saharan Africa. The innovation is unique because it deploys a special technology called Windows Multi-Point Server which enables Hubs to save up to 60% of associated costs in setting up computer labs. A computer laboratory is set up with 20 networked desk-top computers. Each hub has a digital ambassador who acts as the lab administrator and helps with ICT training. Badiliko encourages community and interactive learning so teachers can see what students are doing. The Badiliko curriculum created matches Microsoft expertise in ICT learning and British Council’s teaching pedagogy expertise. Teachers are required to use state curriculums, but have to incorporate new Badiliko ICT tools into learning. Those located in rural areas are also included. For example, two of the hubs in Rivers State are located in community centers so that different people from the community including out of school children (OOSC) can gain access.

One of the Nigerian Badiliko in-country facilitators remarked that ICT skills have become a necessity and are relevant for teachers in the classroom given the ‘’Computer Age’’ the world is currently living in. The ICT training better equips teachers to do their jobs and bolsters governmental efforts to prioritize ICT in education on the national development agenda. This makes Badiliko training and the project as a whole, a very timely intervention.

Technology

Scale

Schools/centers:

21

Other measures of scale:

From 2010 till date, up to 210 schools in Nigeria have gained access to ICT via 21 British Council and Badiliko Digital Hubs. There are plans to increase this access by collaborating with interested partners to establish more hubs over the next few years.

Date scale data collected:

June, 2013

Expansion

Program growth to date:

From 2010 to date, up to 210 schools in Nigeria have gained access to ICT via 21 British Council and Badiliko Digital Hubs. There are plans to increase this access by collaborating with interested partners to establish more hubs over the next few years. There has been an expansion in market-share, based on the use of Windows multi-point server, and having seen how successfully it works, organizations such as House on the Rock, Nigerian State governments, and large NGOs who are working with schools are now in the process of adopting the use of the Windows multi-point server. The curriculum has also been made available to different stakeholders - such as the the Ministries of Education in Nigeria and Ghana - who are planning teacher training.

Plans for future growth:

Other countries such as Sierra Leone, Cote D'Ivoire, and Mozambique where Badiliko does not currently exist, have shown interest in replicating the models in their countries.

Monitoring & Evaluation

M&E strategy in place?:

Yes

M&E strategy:

The program monitors learning outcomes, numbers of teachers trained, and numbers of project sites that have been completed to determine how readily available they are for communities to use.

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Related Research & Evidence

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